A multitude of wireless communications systems are in common use today. Mobile telephones, pagers and wireless-connected computing devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptop computers provide portable communications at virtually any locality. Wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless personal area networks (WPANs) according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) specifications 802.11 (WLAN) (including 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, etc.) which are generally known as Wi-Fi networks, 802.15.1 (WPAN) and 802.15.4 (WPAN-LR) also provide wireless interconnection of computing devices and personal communications devices, as well as other devices such as home automation devices.
Within the above-listed networks and wireless networks in general, in many personal, commercial and industrial applications it is desirable to monitor wireless devices and RFID tags and also know their location.
The usage of Wi-Fi tags has significantly increased during the last five years and they are now being used in many applications including healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, retail, oil & gas, etc.
These tags may include non-associating (beaconing) tags such as those manufactured and sold by AeroScout. The characteristics of this type of tags include very low channel capacity utilization, long battery life and compatibility both with Wi-Fi access points and Time of Arrival (TOA) receivers. They can have the ability to receive messages from various types of Exciters including Low Frequency and Ultrasound, causing the tags to send immediate messages to the Real Time Location System (RTLS) software and/or providing further location resolution. The tags can include motion detectors, call buttons, tamper evidence switches, temperature and humidity sensors and they can include a serial data port that can be used to query other devices and transport information from them as part of their telemetry message.
These applications are becoming very popular and one of the main reasons for that is the ability of Wi-Fi Access Points to receive and report messages from non-associating tags. However the support of non-associating tags is limited to infrastructure devices (e.g. Access Points or Location Receivers) and therefore the existing applications are all related and applicable to areas with fixed Wi-Fi coverage.
Therefore it is desirable to provide a method and system for monitoring of associating and non-associating Wi-Fi tags by a mobile device. The system and method are also applicable for extending the range of a Wi-Fi based real time location system (RTLS) and telemetry monitoring system so that it can operate with a high degree of location precision virtually anywhere in the world.
Using commonly available mobile devices such as “Smartphone” cell phones, a low cost method for monitoring, locating and/or relaying to a central server the tag information including its location of both associating and non-associating Wi-Fi RFID tags is described. To the extent that these Wi-Fi tags have telemetry capabilities such as temperature monitoring, call buttons, tamper evidence or serial data ports, then this telemetry information can be also passed to a centrally located event engine which can act on the telemetry and location data and provide location based services based on changes in the telemetry.
Alternatively, in a stand-alone system the tag telemetry can be locally processed by the Smartphone and initiate one or more actions, such as local alerting, Short Message Service (SMS) messages, voice calls, etc.
There are many possible applications for this invention and many potential expansions. Key applications include:                1. Remote monitoring of temperature, humidity or other condition monitoring data, for example on a truck or a (medical) laboratory courier car. In this case the temperature is constantly monitored and the location of the vehicle, refrigerator, cooler or thermos bottle may be constantly updated. It is important that both the condition monitoring data and the location of the host be known so that appropriate actions can be taken and alerts can be routed. The vehicle could have a cradle for the Smartphone so that it is constantly charged. The driver may carry the Smartphone with him when he leaves the vehicle during rounds, during which time the phone can still monitor the temperature of items/tags in range, e.g. of tags in a cooler he is carrying.        2. Remote monitoring can also use advanced features of the        
Smartphone. For example, the reception of data messages from specific tags or the reception of messages containing specific data can trigger a wide variety of events in the Smartphone including sending SMS or emails, send voice messages, record or play sounds, start web applications, activate the video camera, etc. The data sent by the Smartphone may include information relevant to the tag which triggered the event.                3. Tracking assets and/or people at a disaster site or battlefield. In this case emergency response personnel can associate tags with victims using the device, leave the tags with/attached to the assets or victims and constantly or periodically monitor their location, status or condition. The tags could all be in range 100% of the time or the person carrying the wireless host could walk or drive by and “sample” the tags' location and telemetry data across a large site.        4. Remote monitoring of facilities which may not be constantly occupied, such as vacation homes or storage facilities. In this case it may be important to know the humidity, temperature, level of water in the basement, presence of gas vapors, carbon monoxide, etc. even when the facility is not occupied. The Smartphone can be plugged into a local AC outlet and its internal battery would provide backup power in case of a power outage. Advanced features of the Smartphone, such as those listed in item 2 above may be applied to this scenario.        5. The system could be used for occasionally gathering telemetry data, such as reading utility meters. In particular a low frequency exciter could be used to cause the tag to beacon its telemetry data only when the data is required to be read, and then the data is received on the wireless host where it might be stored and forwarded, or sent in real time.        6. Remote monitoring of call buttons, such as for panic alerts or assistance requests. This might be useful in outdoor areas or large indoor or outdoor facilities such as stadiums where Wi-Fi coverage isn't normally available (and therefore the Wi-Fi tags wouldn't otherwise work). In effect the system can be used to create an ad hoc location based services system.        7. Fleet management of commercial vehicles, incorporating tags with OBD connectors to read the telemetry off of the vehicle, send it to a wireless host on the vehicle and then upload both the location of the vehicle and its current condition. By using bi-directional tags this data could be retrieved on demand.        8. In a more sophisticated environment, such as a battlefield, land mine clearing operation or disaster site multiple wireless host devices might be used and effectively create a “mesh” network that provides more precise tag location based on RSSI triangulation of the tags' messages combined with the geolocation of a Ground Positioning System (GPS) 35 location of each individual wireless host device. This information might be processed locally or sent over the network to a more powerful location engine for processing.        9. Bi-directional tags could be queried directly from the host wireless device.        10. In house arrest applications, prisoners can wear tags which may be constantly monitored. In case the prisoner is not in those areas he should stay, an immediate alarm and message can be sent to the police.         The Smartphones also can estimate the tag distance from the phone to provide an estimate regarding the risk of contact with the prisoner. By taking the host device with him the prisoner could have some degree of mobility, e.g. to permit him to go to work.        
The present patent application describes a system and method for mobile monitoring and data relaying of tags which provide significant advantages over the existing art. Some of them were described above in this section.